Lessons at Lightsbridge
by smarties101
Summary: Tris goes to Lightsbridge. She meets new people - some friendly, others not so much - and she learns about others as well as herself. A few cameos from the other well loved members of her friends and family. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 0 - Prologue

Winding Circle Temple, Emelan

Prologue

Climbing up the wooden ladder with the ease of someone who has done it many times before, Trisana Chandler made it to the top of Discipline Cottage as gracefully as her many layered gown would allow. The breeze and smell of the fresh thatch reaching her sensitive nose was as real as if she were actually standing there herself.

"You don't have to go you know Coppercurls," said a grey-green eyed boy. His gaze fixed on her steadily in contrast to the lazy way he comfortably straddled the roof with his back pressed against the chimney. Her steely grey eyes behind her spectacles looked out over Winding Circle. It was a clear and bright spring day, the plants from Rosethorn's garden swaying to the melodies of the world around them. The world he made.

"Yes I do," the girl said plunking herself down beside him. "I've made up my mind and no one, not even you Briar Moss can stop me."

He shrugged as he turned his gaze towards the same direction as her and said, "Wasn't trying to. Just making sure that you haven't chickening out like a kid."

The sun shone down on the pair highlighting and warming the tops of their heads, one black - cut short and tossled as if the boy had just woken up that way and the other fiery red; her naturally wild and curly contained under a scarf. She would miss having such easy access to the Earth's elements as she was used to now a days; but where she was going, the power would have made her stick out more than just her red hair alone ever would.

"I'm going to miss you all," Tris whispered. "But I have to do this."

Briar was silent for a moment and then replied, "I know, but just remember – you always have a place with us whether you have a mage license or not. This is your home."

Tris woke just after sunrise. She called to the winds, those that had been in her service for many years and had been with her on her travels drifted through the windows, never far from their mistress and helped her carry her luggage through the windows.

Sandry, Daja, and Briar all waited downstairs for her. Sandry making a special trip from Duke's Citadel to see her foster sister off and Daja coming home after working all night on a commissioned project at the forge.

Sandry hugged her red headed sister tightly, not wanting to let her go before stepping back, "I made sure to pack extra gowns for any parties you decide to attend while away, at least I hope you attend some. You will won't you? I also packed specially spelled gowns that may accidentally get ruined during one of your experiments," said the noble woman. Her cornflower blue eyes were shining a bit too brightly but Tris could see that her sister was trying very hard not to cry. "Write to us at least once a month and come home during the holidays."

"I will," said Tris. "And thank you."

"Frostpine wanted to wish you safe travels, to study hard and to – " Daja blushed. "to find yourself a man, or woman, while away."

Tris blushed. "I am not doing anything of the sort! I will be there to study and that is that."

Daja cracked a smile. "I know, it's just his way of saying to also enjoy yourself and have a bit of fun while away. Now get going you money grubbing merchant girl. Show those _kaqs_ what a mage really is." Daja's use of the Trader word for non-Traders, though an insult, made Tris smile.

She nodded and hugged her sister before getting on to the Trader Caravan. She would be riding with Tenth Caravan Idaram, Polyam and her mother _gilav_ Chandrisa already exchanging pleasantries with the others had come out to her house to specially pick her up and accompany her to where the rest of their caravan waited, just outside of Summersea. She looked forward to long conversations with the Caravan's _mimander_ , a word for Trader mage, on his specialty with earth tremors and mudslides. The group slowly began their trek north towards the caravan and then to Karang, where Lightsbridge University, and Tris's new home for the next few years, would be.


	2. Chapter 1 - Invitation to a Party

Chapter 1: An Invitation to a Party

The dining hall buzzed with activity as students hurried to energize their overworked brains with either sugary snacks and caffeine if they didn't have much time before their next class or a hearty meal if they did. Tris relaxed in a corner booth, away from the main traffic with a stack of books she had borrowed from the University's library. She sat content, focused on her reading with the white noise from the other students allowing her to become a part of the school while also separated in her own sanctuary at the same time. It was exactly where she wanted to be.

She was taking a sip from her cup of hot afternoon tea when there was a thump from across her table. She looked up and a wide smile with freckles lightly dusted across the nose above it greeted her. "Hey Kerenza, still reading I see." Tris frowned. "Hello Kaden."

She had met Kaden about a month ago during her dormitory's mandatory floor meeting where their dorm mother explained the quiet hours, rules and regulations within the dorms, and the facilities provided to them. He was the last one to come in and had unabashedly taken the seat at the front of the meeting beside her, speaking to her as soon as they were forced to introduce themselves. He had taken every opportunity he could to speak to her as soon as he found out that she had been to his homeland of Namorn not so long ago.

Tris wasn't exactly frowning because she didn't like Kaden, he wasn't annoying per se, but she was just getting entranced by the author's descriptions of the typhoons of the Yanjiing provinces. After hearing stories from Briar of his travels there – minus the war and being chased out of the country part – she had been fascinated by the east and planned to go there herself in the future.

"What are your plans this weekend _ryzvolsy_?" he had used the Namornese word for redhead, a word that Tris did not particularly dislike but didn't exactly like either. He lounged in his seat, examining his fingernails as if he didn't particularly care about her answer, but when she replied that she planned to get ahead on her studies, he quickly jumped at the opportunity.

"Kerenza! Come out tonight! I hear some of the students from the healing department are having a get together. Only those in the know even have the information on the location," he said while winking at her. "And I got the information from the younger sister of the best friend of the person in charge, so it's got to be reliable."

Tris rolled her eyes. He had said something similar the first time he had managed to drag her out, and that was only due to the urges of her foster siblings as they were curious as to what a party with a group of University students looked like. They had walked around the campus for about an hour before Tris decided to leave the embarrassed boy alone in the middle of the quad. "Kamden, you haven't been to a single party this entire time and you continue to tell me that you are 'in the know' every weekend. Now if you please, I need to get back to studying." Tris ducked down behind her book again, her signal to tell him to leave her alone. She heard a shuffling of books and papers from the other side and out of curiosity glanced up in that direction. "What are you doing?"

"Working on my homework, what does it look like I'm doing?" Kamden replied.

"Why?" Tris asked confused.

He looked at her as if she were speaking to a particularly slow person and recited his response in the same manner, "Because I am a student. I have homework and so must complete it."

"I meant," Tris said, frustrated. "Why here? Go somewhere else."

"I don't want to," he said, stubborn. "I plan to ask you again when you are done with that book and want to be here when you do. So in the meantime, I am going to finish my homework."

Her pale eyebrows arched in surprise and then scrunched downwards in a mixture of confusion and a bit of frustration, trying to decide what to do with him. But he was already looking down, focused on his paper that he was writing for a class so she sighed, took a sip of her tea and continued reading.

"You know _rysvolsy_ ," Kamden said, not looking up. "If people weren't so distracted by those eyes and nose of yours, they would realize that your expressions have a wider range than stern and scary."

"Shut up and do your homework," said Tris who blushed slightly.

Kamden smirked and continued to do as he was told.


	3. Chapter 2 - Understanding Student Life

Chapter 2 – Understanding Student Life

She had chosen the name Kerensa to spite her brother Briar. In Tharios, the name meant 'love' and when he had heard this for the first time through their many conversations about their travel abroad, he jokingly suggested it as almost a good luck charm while at Lightsbridge. She smirked at him and decided to accept the suggestion.

Tris remembered that quiet day with Briar, Daja, and Sandry at Daja's home in Summersea. It was after dinner and the four and settled in comfortably around their living area working on their own individual projects like they had so many times at Discipline cottage. Though they were in a different location, they were all older, and Lark and Rosethorn were back at Winding Circle where the four had begun their studies, the atmosphere was the same. She was shaken out of her thoughts when a girl bumped into her, Tris was at a party.

Students were everywhere in the little house that she and Kaden had come to about an hour ago. As soon as Tris saw the sheer number of people fitted almost shoulder to shoulder she wanted to turn around and go back to the sanctuary that was her room, among her comfortable chair and books. Kaden had seen the look of terror behind her steel grey eyes and her pointy chin had turned away slightly as if it were to turn her right around and leave. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her in to the heart of it all.

"This looks fun! I'll go get us something to drink," Kaden had said to Tris before dashing off towards the refreshments table.

Tris stood there, her thin lips pressed tightly together looking for any corner to hide in.

 _Oh! So this is what a student mage party looks like!_ said Sandry looking through Tris's eyes. Tris was wearing a white long-sleeved under gown with a dark blue over gown to complement her hair. It had intricate designs stitched in to the bodice and hems of her sleeves and skirt as dictated by Sandry. Her sister had been more excited at the prospect dressing her up for the party than her actually attending it, though she could tell that Sandry was enjoying this part too.

 _Be careful of those mage students drinking wine,_ Daja's soothing voice said inside her head. _Who knows what trouble they'll stir up when they aren't fully in control of what they're doing._

Tris saw Kaden navigating his way back to her through the throng of people.

 _Are we sure that this guy can take care of her if something goes wrong?_ Briar asked, examining Kaden skeptically through Tris's eyes. _He doesn't look like he'd even be a match for Glakki, let alone Evvy._

Tris smiled at that, Evy and Glakki were Briar and Tris's mage students respectively and both were small young girls. And while unlike most girls their age, the two were taught to defend themselves as the four had by Dedicate Skyfire himself and so could take on men twice their size. Tris understood what Briar meant. Standing next to him, Tris could tell that Kaden was about a head taller than Briar but unlike her brother whose grace was almost catlike, Kaden was like a newborn foal, skinny and all arms and legs.

 _I can handle myself as you all very well know_ Tris replied. _I'm not going to need to anyways seeing as I'm going to leave soon. Now hush, he's coming back._

Sandry tried to make a few comments trying to convince her to stay a moment longer, it was such a waste of a perfectly good gown. While Briar made a few suggestions as to how Tris would handle herself if one of the students decided to get handsy with her – something along the lines of scorching them with lightning before Tris closed off her connection to them.

"Juice right?" Kaden said, handing Tris a glass. "I wasn't sure if you were the type of mage that drank or not so I decided to play it safe." He gave her a small smile as if unsure if she would leave him alone at the slightest mistake.

"You were right to do so," Tris took a sip from the glass and hummed with pleasure, it was her favorite. At least there was something she could enjoy here. She took another sip as she studied Kaden for a moment trying to decipher why she was spending so much time with him, not that they were together often, but he had at least managed to get her here to a party. He wasn't particularly ugly but neither was he handsome as well, somewhere in the middle, though she did not have a working range of what was attractive in a man and what was not. She only knew that girls found her brother Briar pleasant to look at and Kaden did not look much like Briar at all, except maybe his hair which was cropped similarly short and was black.

"Kerensa!" Cried a feminine voice from behind her. "And Kaden too! So you both made it to the party." Tris turned around to see the speaker and found a girl that was around her age. Her hair was in a tumble of golden curls that framed a heart shaped face and blue eyes not so unlike her sister Sandry's. Myrdlynn was a classmate of both Kaden and Tris's in the Theoretical Spellworks course, it was a course for more advanced students wanting to analyze the cause and effects of improvised spellwork in both ambient and academic mages. You had to score high enough on the placement exams in order to enter the course as a first year student and they were the only three to manage that task.

Myrdlynn was from one of the villages in northern Emelan and so while Tris would not have to be as wary of Myrdlynn had she been from Summersea, she knew stories of her and her foster family had spread at least throughout the entirety of Emelan.

Tris smiled at the third addition to their group. Since the day Myrdlynn had sat next to her during their first lecture and had shared Tris's sentiment over those students who had not done the readings before the beginning of class and thus wasting their as well as their professor's time, they had been fast acquaintances. It wasn't until Myrdlynn had begun a conversation with Tris over the potential of magic as a form of energy for faster transportation and more powerful everyday tools that they had become friends.

"Myrdlynn! You're here too?" Asked Kaden happily, he stepped closer to the blue eyed girl and stood beside Tris. Tris frowned but it went unnoticed.

 _Looks like someone is interested_ said Daja who was back at Summersea preparing for bed. Tris hadn't closed off her connection to Daja since she had not made any excessive comments in their earlier conversation.

 _Who? Kaden to Myrdlynn?_ Tris asked not really paying attention to the conversation.

Daja chuckled. _I meant you and Kaden_.

Tris froze.

 _You're not denying it._

 _That's because it was too nonsensical!_

 _Now I know you have it bad, you're beginning to talk like Briar_.

Tris closed off her connection to Daja before she could embarrass herself any further. Did she like Kaden? She looked up to see that both Kaden and Myrdlynn were staring at her.

"What?" said Tris defensively.

"Nothing," said Kaden, I've just never seen so many different emotions play on someone's face so silently before.

Myrdlynn giggled. "Come on Kerensa, let's go enjoy the party. I'll introduce you to some friends of mine." She dragged Tris towards a group of people before she could find a way to respond to Kaden's comment. She was thankful for the excuse to not explain herself, what would she have said if she were forced to, that she was having a conversation with one of her sisters in her head while said sister was thousands of miles away in another country? Tris shook her head and silently laughed at the thought. She allowed herself to talk and meet with Myrdlynn's friends for a while, she was surprised that the conversations were actually of interest to her and stayed longer than she had expected to. Eventually, she excused herself and wished everyone a good night. Kaden walked with her back to the dorms.

"So, what did you think?" Kaden asked, his brown eyed gaze looking up at the stars.

"It wasn't horrible," Tris replied, satisfied that she had not completely wasted her time going. "I may go to another party again, if it had fewer people."

Kaden chuckled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it ryzvolsy."

They walked in companionable silence as they made their way back to the dorm, climbing the stairs side by side. They parted ways on the third floor where their rooms were and Tris, finally able to relax, dressed in her softest nightgown, courtesy of Sandry of course. She propped her feet up a book in hand and allowed Chime to nuzzle around her neck, purring a musical note until she drifted off to sleep.


End file.
